The invention relates to detachable rack structure for the support of skis, surfboards, and like articles, as on the roof of an automobile.
Prior attachment devices for detachable mounting of racks on automobiles have been of three general types. In a first category, the pedestal or bracket by which the rack is positioned above the roof relies upon seated reference in a rain-gutter; clearly, such a rack is limited as to load by the strength of the rain-gutter, and of course the vehicle must have rain-gutters. Many of today's vehicles have no rain-gutters, or they are of insufficient extent to enable mounting of two racks on a single roof.
A second rack category relies on support pads which seat on the roof, with reliance upon tie-down straps which hook over the edge of the roof. The pads are at a fixed or minimally adjustable spacing, and this represents an undesirable limitation because it often occurs, particularly with the light-weight cars of today, that the roof area of pad support is not a structural area, so that medium-to-heavy loads cannot be tolerated.
The third category is also characterized by reliance on support pads, but these pads are of adjustable width so that the pad can be on or very near the edge of the roof, where the roof can structurally support the load. These racks are difficult to install and require a separate fastening device to establish a desired span between pads, and a separate further fastening device to attach the rack to the car. And only a limited number of different types of cars can accommodate this kind of rack, since roof-edge configurations are so different; commercially available racks are either supplied with one hook for each support bracket, or they are supplied with rigid clamps that are individually designed according to the make and model of each car.